Category: Geography & Environment

The Romans called it ‘Dubris’ and the Saxons named England’s closest transit point to Europe ‘Dofras’. The 19th century saw the population of Kent’s town of Dover increase six-fold due to the development of its harbour, both for defence purposes and, after the railways and trams were invented, for commercial travel. The Strait of Dover is all that separates Dover from France, just 23 miles away. It is the UK’s busiest ferry port and it is perhaps its geographical vulnerability which deters its expansion into a city.

As part of its fortifications, Dover Castle was built and re-built after the Norman invaders set fire to it. Dover was attacked by the French in the 13th century and in WW2 it was shelled from the French coastline, but it held fast. King Charles II (1630-85) landed on its beach in the Restoration, as did thousands of soldiers evacuating from Dunkirk in 1940.

Several engineering solutions have been implemented to combat the problem of shingle mounting up in the harbour mouth, hence the long piers and the separation of the ‘refuge’ harbour of 610 acres from the commercial harbour of 68 acres.

Dover’s iconic chalk cliffs were immortalised in this WW2 song performed by Dame Vera Lynn (1917-2020):

(Top image of Dover Castle as seen from the English Channel: Alex Dawson at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Predicting British weather by means of traditional sayings is surely just as successful as an electronic app, since conditions can change from hour to hour. Perhaps the most well-known weather rhyme is: “Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning”, and there is another version using ‘sailor’ instead of ‘shepherd’, demonstrating the practicality of this piece of weather wisdom.

Observation of the sky, animals and plants has given rise to these examples:-

• Ne’er cast a clout (clothing) till May be out.
• Clear moon, frost soon.
• Fogs in February, frosts in May.
• A wet May brings a load of hay.
• If Candlemas Day (2nd February) be cold and clear, there’ll be two winters in the year.
• If the ash [buds] before the oak, then there’ll be a regular soak. If the oak before the ash, then there’ll only be a splash.
• If at dimpsey (twilight) the frogs do croakin’, we’em be soon due a soakin’.

Rain is due if: cows are lying down, “it’s black over Bill’s mother’s”, geese are cackling.

A storm is due if: cats are going crazy, dogs are eating grass, geese are flying low.

It can also be “too cold to snow”.

(Image: pickpik.com / CC0)

The city of Bath in Somerset is renowned for its natural thermal springs, easily the hottest in the UK at around 45ºC. A geological quirk gifted Bath with this product of artesian pressure, which has drawn millions of visitors over the centuries, many of them seeking healing from the water’s mineral composition of sulphate calcium, chloride, sodium, bicarbonate, magnesium, silicon and iron.

The Romans called the place Aquae Sulis (Sul was a local deity) and built public baths fed by the hot springs which are still a major tourist attraction. Indeed, although a wool trade existed in the area at one time, tourism has been Bath’s primary economic activity since the 18th century. There are three springs ~ King’s, Hetling and Cross ~ and they are protected by a Royal Charter of 1591 and the 1982 County of Avon Act.

Bath and N.E. Somerset Council monitor all construction works in the vicinity to ensure they do not interfere with the springs.  In particular, there is a circular zone around them with bans on excavations ranging from below 5 to below 50 metres, from the inner to the outer rim. The source of the heat is some 2,500 metres down but these measures safeguard the water’s path upwards.

(Image of Roman bath at Bath: Julian P Guffogg at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The UK’s first significant stretch of motorway comprised the M1’s junctions 5-18, opened in 1959, though the M6 in Preston had a small section opened the previous year. With no speed limit and unschooled drivers treating these straight, wide roads as race tracks even in fog, there were thousands of crashes in those early days. One issue was the clarity of signage, which obviously had to be read and understood at speed.

This led to several years of experimentation and debate before the optimal designs and standards were selected for motorway signs. The Road Research Laboratory tested different ideas in Hyde Park, Slough and part of the M1, among other places. The Anderson Report of 1962 was expanded on by the Worboys Report of 1963 and both of these Committees employed the services of graphic designers Richard ‘Jock’ Kinneir (1917-94) from Hampshire and S.African émigrée Margaret Calvert (1936-).

Their recommendations included having a blue background behind reflective white, mixed-case lettering, for which they designed a new typeface called ‘Transport’ (this is also now used on the government website). This aids word-shape recognition and best use of space. Kinneir and Calvert went on to design all other British road signs, using pictograms instead of text wherever possible.

(Image: Steve Daniels at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

British and French tribes were inhabiting the chalky Hampshire valley of Wenta, with River Itchen winding its way down to the English Channel, when the Romans arrived and upgraded it to a town, its ground level being 12ft. below that of Winchester today. The original concept of a crossroads with gates at the ends of the four roads, with a large central marketplace, partially survived in subsequent city layouts.

In 871 Alfred the Great (848/9-99) made Winchester the administrative centre of Wessex and it became second only to London in importance. The Normans built a castle there and this remained a royal residence until the 1550s. Cromwell (1599-1658) demolished it in 1649 leaving only the Great Hall, now displaying a 13th century replica, wall-hung, 18ft. diameter legless Round Table.

In 1141 the city was the scene of the supporters of King Stephen (c.1097-1154) fighting to gain his release from Empress Matilda’s imprisonment and there was a devastating fire. In the 14th century, restoration work included the founding of the prestigious Winchester College, a few streets away from Winchester Cathedral. Seven English Kings and local author Jane Austen (1775-1817) are buried in the Cathedral, which was erected in 1079 and had seven different styles added over five centuries.

(Top image of Winchester’s medieval Kingsgate with modern repairs: Geoff Henson at Flickr.com / CC BY-ND 2.0)

William the Conqueror (c.1028-87) did not make any friends when he ordered dozens of Hampshire and Wiltshire villages and farmsteads to remove their boundary fences to facilitate royal hunting activities in his ‘nova foresta’. The ruthless tyrant may even have wiped some places off the map in outlining the 140,000-acre expanse of The New Forest in 1079, including 40 miles of coastline facing the Isle of Wight. He died in his native France but two of his sons and a grandson were variously killed in the Forest.

Most of the New Forest is still Crown-owned. It was designated a National Park in 2005 and much of it is a ‘Site of Special Scientific Interest’. It is home, for instance, to all six of our native reptiles. There are around 4,500 New Forest Ponies, a breed derived from a mixture of at least four others. The ponies roam freely but are owned by ‘commoners’ ~ a traditional term for residents with grazing rights for their animals, including cattle. Visitors must not feed or interfere with them, but sadly some are killed or injured by traffic.

Millions of holidaymakers visit the New Forest each year, some staying at campsites. This video was taken by one such camper:-

(Top image: Sue Turner at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The neighbouring towns of Ascot and Windsor in Berkshire lie just 20 miles from central London and while Ascot has its royal horse racing, Windsor hosts one of the most famous royal residences, Windsor Castle. This sits within 13 acres of high ground in a kink of the River Thames and has been inhabited by English/British monarchs since the early 1100s. In 1917, the royal family changed their German surname to ‘Windsor’.

The Castle is unmatched for age, size (having 484,000 sq.ft. of floor space) and architectural heritage, and is therefore very popular with tourists. In 1992 a fire destroyed 20% of it and the income from visitor admissions helped finance repairs.

King William I (c.1028-87) chose the site in 1070, partly for the adjacent forest in which to hunt and partly in defence of the western approach to London. It was such a good choice that a succession of monarchs has seen fit to invest in improvements. For example, Windsor-born King Edward III (1312-77) spent an enormous amount on upgrading it to a Gothic style and incorporating elements of chivalry. Equally lavish was the expenditure in the 1820s under the direction of King George IV (1762-1830) that gave it its awe-inspiring outer appearance of towering opulence and power.

(Image: Chrisedge at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)

 

 

Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, complements the surrounding geological heights with its own towering architecture. The extinct volcano of Arthur’s Seat and its satellite vent known as Castle Rock, along with other prominences such as the Braid Hills, Craiglockhart Hills, Calton Hill, Blackford Hill, Corstorphine Hill and the Salisbury Crags form its natural setting. The man-made additions, the majority having at least four storeys, crowd into the historic Old and New Towns and the Marchmont districts. Many church spires populate the skyline and lofty Edinburgh Castle, seemingly grown out of Castle Rock, guards the city below.

For some centuries Edinburgh was the northernmost point of the Angle kingdom of Northumbria but it became part of south-east Scotland in a battle in 1018 and was designated the capital by 1437. It sits south of the Firth of Forth, with Leith serving as its gateway port town.

The Scottish devolved government is headquartered in Edinburgh at the Holyroodhouse Palace end of the famous Royal Mile, the route in the Old Town leading up to Edinburgh Castle. Tourists flock to the city in summer for the ‘Edinburgh Fringe’, a 25-day extravaganza of arts and comedy, and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, performed throughout August.

(Top Image of view from Edinburgh Castle towards the Firth of Forth: Kim Traynor at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)

 

For centuries British fishermen went wherever they knew they could get a plentiful catch and top of the list for many were the waters around Iceland. However, three vicious ‘cod wars’ between Icelandic and British trawlers broke out between 1958 and 1976 when consumer demand was increasing. Finally, Iceland declared a 12-nautical-mile (nmi.) territorial zone round its coastline and a 200nmi. Icelandic rights zone. The former meant that the first 12nmi. (calculated from low-water mark outwards) came under Icelandic ownership, while the latter meant that permission had to be sought to fish or conduct any other type of economic activity between 12nmi. and 212nmi. distance from the Icelandic shores.

The UK decided to reciprocate for its own waters, since Iceland’s action greatly impacted the British fishing industry. Beginning with the Fishery Limits Act of 1964, a series of laws have been passed which proclaim this same 12nmi. territorial encirclement and a 200nmi. Exclusive Economic Zone, as delineated in pink on the simplified map below:-

Abutting the eastern and southern zones are the areas claimed by Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. On the west and north are those of Ireland and Denmark again via its territory of the Faroe Islands.

(Top image: (Mick Baker)rooster at Flickr.com / CC BY-ND 2.0)

While the Crown owns thousands of properties in the UK,  just a few are registered to the monarch personally. Sandringham Estate in Norfolk is one such property. It has had a succession of royal owners since Queen Victoria (1819-1901) purchased it in 1862 as a country retreat for her London-based socialite son, the future King Edward VII (1841-1910), who proceeded to add entertainments, including a bowling alley, billiard room and all ‘mod-cons’ to a much larger re-building of Sandringham House. He also established the Royal Stud there in 1886.

His successor, King George V (1865-1936), loved the place and indeed died there. King Edward VIII (1894-1972) then briefly took possession but on his abdication was obliged to sell the Estate to his younger brother, King George VI (1895-1952), who both began and ended his days there.

Today, Sandringham Estate comprises 20,000 acres in which there are 13 villages, several small churches, a small railway station, large areas of farmland, conservation-oriented businesses, parkland, gardens, a museum and visitor facilities. Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) spent every winter there and most royal babies are christened in St. Mary Magdalene Church, a short walk from the House. Prince Philip (1921-2021) managed the Estate on the Queen’s behalf and retired there.

(Image: David Dixon at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)